kellzfresh

Someone made this comment and I agree Conte could be perfect for Chelsea. Abramovich has craved sexy football for so long, and he is finally getting it with Antonio Conte. We've been super dominant in 4 out of 10 games we've played this season (Bristol, Burnley and Leicester twice) and only against arsenal we didn't score (and batshuayi missed a one on one) He’s got the winning mentality of pre Madrid Mourinho, without any of the brashness that follows years of success. He’s a very astute tactician, he finds the best system for his players (Hazard’s new role, Moses, Azpi, Luiz’s anchor/distributor role), gives them confidence (Cahill, Matic) and he’s pragmatic…like with the Chalobae sub to solidify the midfield in response to the Slimani, Mahrez substitutions. He’s also big on physicality and work-rate, standing together as a team, and today when he refused to sub out Costa despite his tantrum, it showed that he was telling Costa..‘I want you to control yourself, and I’m sure you can..without getting a card. Show them YOU are in control.’ I’m sure he’s even earned Costa’s begrudging respect today. I think we are witnessing the birth of a cough….dynasty under Conte. Get hyped! We Are Chelsea!!! KTBFFH!

Also him being allowed to get forward has been fantastic for him. He has everything you need from a midfielder: fast, ball control, very good control under pressure, Makelele level tackling and very good passing(this surprised me) One of the best midfielders in the league, better than Pogba so far

Or Griezmann/dybala

Fantastic performance from us. Dominated for majority of the match and looked solid defensively when Leicester attacked us. Chalobae with the fantastic assist. He's a good passer of the ball and wouldn't look out of place starting for us imo. He could be the one that finally makes it from the youth team. When costa plays well, Chelsea play well. I remember that season we bought him, where he was scoring almost every game, we played our best football for half a season. Costa is looking as good as that once again. Hazard looks involved more centrally, please let it stay that way. Kante along with costa is our best player. Sometimes he was giving passes like Pirlo, if he knew how to shoot he'll be one of the best midfielders in world football, has everything else in his locker. Luiz has been fantastic, he's thriving in the Bonucci role and I hope he stays there permanently. Moses is all energy, all action, causes trouble out wide always. Well done Alonso was fantastic in the first half. It feels so good having a left-footed leftback that can cross once again. Looks a huge threat in attack. Matic was very good, didn’t dwell on the ball and passed out quickly. Pedro was energetic, huge contribution in the link up play but lack of quality up top. Azpi and cahill have been steady in this formation. It'll be sad if Azpi gets dropped for Terry Conte has got us playing quicker in the attacking third of the pitch, quick one twos between the 3 upfront. We also look more comfortable sitting deep with this 3-4-3 compared to the 4-1-4-1 Courtois has had nothing to do since we went 3 at the back. And he trusts youth, I think he likes chalobah. 10/10 from Conte today.

If he's sitting and kante is the one allowed to get forward like the last game, I'm fine with Matic in this case. The only problem is when Matic is trying to be the box to box attacker....

No Terry?? Pedro ahead of batshuayi?? Hopefully we win somehow.

Nooooooo

Everytime stepovers and cross on the ground which never beats the first man. He's no winger, he doesn't have the mentality for this. He's good on the ball in tight spaces, he's one of our few players who can hold onto the ball under pressure and will fit in the middle. Look at Liverpool, we thought wjnaldum will not fit in midfield but he's working well there, Willian would be even better there in a 3 midfield formation. Him and kante in a box to box role will be very good, much needed speed and technique/control will be added.

Not looking as bad as I thought we would be, if the referee didn't cheat us against Swansea, we would be even better placed. But we're still behind 4 teams, so hopefully we keep beating the smaller teams and try to draw with the big teams instead of losing.

Matic has the ability to make runs. He used to do that in almost every match during his first season here. But his form/stamina/energy is no longer the same, so he never does it consistently enough or well enough anymore. And because of his onefootedness and slow turn, kante is by far better than Matic in terms of pushing the ball forward through midfield because he can shield the ball under pressure better. We were so spoiled in the past having essien do this for us like it was nothing, never did I know that the skill to push an attack forward with the ball from central midfielders will be so hard to replace.

Leicester should have had penalty Stupid penalty against Southampton 93rd minute winner today. Arsenal have had some luck! Wish luck smiled on Chelsea this way

I saw hazard make so many runs off the ball today, looking to be involved with play everywhere. I think he may have even run as much as costa today which would never happen normally. I hope he stays centrally like this, he might need to go back to basics of his lille days (playing more central) to rediscover the explosiveness he used to have.

Finally played a formation he knows best. I hope dropping ivanovic was for real, that would be fantastic. And most importantly, I hope he gives kante more freedom to go forward and play box to box like today and tells Matic to sit back and play the holding role, because that suited them perfectly. Small positive steps at least.

I think we were very cautious in the first half because Conte was sick of conceding 2 goals every first half. So after getting through that, we came out in the 2nd half with Kante pushing forward and dominated. If we had quality in our passing, we would have created far more chances than we did. I love hazard in this central role and kante in the box to box role two good players on the ball in tight spaces in the middle.

I thought I'll never see the day we have a left-footed leftback that can cross since Ashley Cole

Finally he contributes to our defense by making saves, it was looking every shot against him enters the net at some point.

But at least in the first half, he showed Willian how to dribble past a leftback. I thought it wasn't possible.

MOTM

Fantastic at the box to box role. Please Conte play him there instead of Matic. Matic can sit back instead of looking clumsy going forward for us

Two dribblers on the wings finally, two proper fullbacks on the pitch finally, Willian experimented in midfield (his natural position to me) Ivanovic out (one weed out at a time) I have a good feeling today.

I hope he at least drops ivanovic and plays Azpilicueta on the right. One weed out at a time.

PREMIER LEAGUE GOALKEEPERS PLAYER TEAM SAVE PERCENTAGE Claudio Bravo Manchester City 77.8 Hugo Lloris Tottenham Hotspur 77.8 Tom Heaton Burnley 76.5 Ben Foster West Bromwich Albion 75 Eldin Jakupovic Hull City 74.1 Kasper Schmeichel Leicester City 72.7 Jordan Pickford Sunderland 72.4 Petr Cech Arsenal 70.8 Maarten Stekelenburg Everton 69.2 Artur Boruc Bournemouth 67.9 Steve Mandanda Crystal Palace 66.7 Lukasz Fabianksi Swansea City 66.7 David de Gea Manchester United 65 Heurelho Gomes Watford 59.3 Adrian West Ham United 59 Simon Mignolet Liverpool 55.6 Shay Given Stoke City 54.8 Fraser Forster Southampton 53.9 Victor Valdes Middlesbrough 50 Thibaut Courtois Chelsea 47.1 Exactly what I said a few pages back. I have to think so hard to remember any match we won because Courtois pulled off saves to help us win. When cech was here, I wouldn't need to go back more than 7 games to find one where he's made 3-4 saves. Courtois problem is he is so slow to come off his line to make saves. And he doesn't tell his defenders when there's someone free in the box. Cech was far more vocal and the best keepers are really.

Conte has seen that our defense is our albatross, our burden that wants us to park the bus in the 18box before they put a good defensive performance. He was used to dogged defenders like Cheilini getting tight against attackers and fast enough to keep up with them in one on one situations, now he's met people who put their hands behind their backs, back off and let crosses in easily and others who moonwalk to our goal till the striker is too close to score. Hopefully we can carry this defence cross and still somehow make top 4.

Our problems listed down: . Little goal threat (Only Costa as a consistent goalscorer) .Little to no creativity (Fabregas is the only player who seems to be creative and decisive with his passing and he is inconsistent) . A midfield that can't keep hold of the ball under pressure . No width as both wingers and fullbacks are inverted (Both opposite foot) or old and past it . Defenders who can't handle sustained pressure from an offensive side and lack organisation . Half the team seemingly wanting to press up high and the other half wanting to sit deep We are a complete mismatch of players that don't fit together. Like a jigsaw for different puzzles just jumbled together. We need much more cohesion in our style and the players we want to sign in the future. We need creative, decisive offensive players. Too many guys like Hazard and Willian doing silly little tricks which don't laffect the game. We need midfielders that can hold onto the ball and bridge the gap between defence and attack. We need faster defenders who want to push up and close the gaps between defence and attack. And we also need fullbacks who will offer width and first time balls into the box. About 5/6 players there.

I admit we have a very poor technical base that makes keeping possession very difficult. But the defence is also a huge part of this possession and as you can see from ivanovic and cahill's blunders on the ball they cause panic when in possession and yet are all terrible in defending. I mean we all saw a long sprint from bellerin to catch pedro. Who in our defense can defend one on one like that??? Must we park the bus before we can defend?? The pressing has to do with Conte's system imo but even under Mourinho's pressing our defense still didn't cover themselves in glory.